The Future of freight transport

There are lots of technologies which are currently being developed, which can change freight transport forever.

UAVs/Drones

Drones with a lot of development have the potential to be used in the logistics. They have the possibility of relieving roads of traffic. We could also see swarms of these drones in the skies delivering pallets!

A company called 7-Eleven has beaten Google and Amazon. They have claimed to have made 77 deliveries. Amazon look to introduce a service called Amazon Prime Air which would make deliveries from five pounds.

Advantages of Using Drones in Freight transport would be:

Drones would make deliveries/pickups from locations with poor road networks easier.

Drones would take pressure off the roads in inner cities which will lower the chances of congestion.

Driver-less Vehicles

The possibility of driver-less cars are coming ever closer and there is nothing to say that we wouldn’t see driver-less trucks.

Advantages of using Driver-less Vehicles in freight transport would be:

From driver-less vehicles we will see savings in labour, fuel, insurance and vehicle utilisation. The savings altogether are estimated to be around £34 billion.

We will also see less delays on road transport since driver-less trucks wont need breaks.

Electronic Trucks

Electric cars are becoming more common on the roads. Development on electric trucks has begun. Mercedes-Benz has created the first fully electric truck which has a range of 200Km. The biggest problem with electric truck is that they will take a long time to charge.

Advantages of electric trucks in freight transport:

Its cheaper to charge a truck then fill it up with petrol.

Trucks are big emitters of Co2. The use of electric trucks will not emit any Co2. No emissions will lead to lower road tax.